Bio:

Hmm…Where to begin. I suppose I should start with the events that lead up to my birth. My name is Kalmen Vryce of the Vryce Imperial Trader Dynasty. I am the 14th of 15 offspring born to Geoff Vryce, my father, the current Warrant holder. Of my 14 siblings, 4 of us have lived to reach the age of majority here on our birth world of Eos. Thinking about that now, I guess we have beaten the odds, really, with so many of us surviving. Anyway, back to the beginning. Our Family records indicate that my Great-Great-Great Grandfather Inos Vrcye performed glorious service for the Imperium and was rewarded with our Dynasty’s Warrant of Trade. I should note however that the records are fragmentary at best now, and there seems to be some confusion as to this being the original Warrant that founded the Dynasty or possibly a later awarding of a new Warrant to replace a previous one. At the moment, our contact with the Imperial records is…unavailable. Hmm…I guess I should explain that further.

You see, Inos Vryce’s grandson, Baginty Vryce, my Great Grandfather, set out one day on a grand expedition to colonize a newly surveyed star system in the Expanse, dubbed X1410793-158B by the Explorator Fleet that originally discovered it. Baginty was something of a gambling man it seems, and committed both of the Vryce Dynasty ships for one toss of the dice, probably in some kind of attempt to clear a debt. As I say, he gathered our ships, Vryce’s Luck and Vryce’s Gambit, filled the holds with colonists, ammunition and what supplies he could afford, and set out on the long trip to what he thought was the verdant world he’d named Helios, now known simply as Eos. That is when his luck ran out.

As the youngest Vryce, I have not been able to discuss the events much with the few seasoned crew who we decant every few years to help us check our progress, but it is obvious now that Baginty did NOT wait for a proper, long-term analysis to be performed before setting out on his expedition. Their Warp route to the planet was…less well prepared than it should have been. But even with the lack of a stable route, no one could have foreseen the mighty Warp Storm that crept up on the fleet and has ever since raged with such ferocity as to cut off all communication with the Imperium. Only Vryce’s Luck managed to survive the Storm, but crippled, she materialized too close to the planet Eos and was driven down onto it’s surface, where she rests, buried, today. My Grandfather, Maximillian, my father, Geoff, and now my brother, sisters and I, along with the descendents of the colonists that survived, toil long each day to further the Luck’s repairs. Sometimes I wonder if the Luck is the right name for the ship.

Eos, it turned out, proved to be only fleetingly similar to the verdant world that so bewitched Baginty. For two months each year, the planet is calm, green and lush. The original Explorator Fleet must have managed to survey the world during one of these times of year. For the rest of the planet’s cycle, the world oscillates between hot radiation storms as it nears the system’s star at its’ closest orbit and sub-zero freezing as the planet rotates out to the farthest point. There are two other planets in the system that seem to have created this eccentric path, one a gas giant and the other a frozen rock that orbits far away on the opposite side of the star from Eos.

If it were only the two short growing seasons, the radiation and the cold that we survivors of Eos had to face, we would likely have thrived by now, but the planet proved more…insidious than that. For you see, the hardy, cunning, mutating life on this planet isn’t the only thing out to kill the unwary or unprepared. There are places on this world that can trap a man’s soul. People have been known to disappear in the night, only to return months later with no knowledge of where they’ve been or how they’ve survived. Some return seemingly untouched, yet emptied, like a newly created Servitor. Others are simply never heard from again. No amount of surveillance, restraints or overwatch has ever proven effective against these disappearances. Thankfully, they remain relatively rare, a few each month. My elder Sister once told me that our Grandfather suspected sorcery, at the beginning, but the Astropath was decanted and asked to investigate. He reported being unable to find any trace of a Psychic disturbance.

I should probably step back and note that all of this has not left us untouched. We too have changed to survive. Mothers now have a tradition of inspecting their offspring and culling those that have obvious crippling mutations. Better a quick death for the young before they are old enough to know cruelty. But, not all changes show. I myself have abilities that “normal” humans do not have, but…that may be due to a chain of events dating back to Baginty’s days shortly after the Arrival.

It seems the Luck’s Prime Navigator, my Great-Grandmother, Cyryth of the Shrouded House of Corma, approached Baginty shortly after the first growing season was past and Eos was headed into the radiation storms. Cyryth revealed to Baginty that she had had a Vision and that to avoid certain Doom for the expedition, Baginty would have to agree to donate one of his offspring to the House of Corma. With the colonization in shambles and fearing further calamity, Baginty agreed, even after Cyryth pushed for a formal agreement.

Only after he discovered that Cyryth was pregnant did he read the full contract he had signed and realized that he had inadvertently granted the Warrant of Trade to her newborn, Maximillian. Furious and suspecting that the “vision” she spoke of was merely a trick to increase her House’s wealth, he arranged for her destruction. He did spare the child, just in case her talk of prophecy proved true. His plan did not include having a few of Cyryth’s apprentices escape, however, nor did it include being mortally wounded. As a last gamble, he had himself frozen into cold sleep after tasking his trusted Tech-Priest and Senechal advisers to set about repairing the Luck and raising Maximillian as the inheritor of the Vryce Dynasty.

With Maximillian’s passing a few weeks ago during Cyryth’s Apprentices’ attack, my father Geoff has assumed his place as the Dynasty’s leader. He has instructed me to begin writing these notes as a way to practice should I ever need to add my thoughts to the House Archives. It seems unlikely, with three older siblings, but who knows. Life can be very short.

Well, with that, I should get back to my training. It appears I have some small affinity with the Medicae Facility’s Machine Spirit.

So, it has been some time since my last note. It appears I have been in the infirmary for many days, now. The last thing I really remember is walking into the Medicae Facility for my daily lessons. My Eldest Sister was there as well, surprisingly. She greeted me and said something about a Vox request for her to have a physical. I mentioned my lessons and sat down to begin working with the Servitors that attend to the Medicae Machine Spirits.

The next thing I remember is waking up in a haze of pain and thirst, hearing someone screaming and the hiss of an autoinjector.

When I woke this morning, I was mostly numb from the neck down. My Father and the Tech-Priest were there, along with a gaggle of Medicae Servitors. No one looked entirely pleased. I asked what had happened and my Father and the Tech-Priest both spoke up. The Tech-Priest replied that, while I am apparently not worthy of joining the Explorators, I should rejoice for I had been gifted by the Machine Spirit with an implant to assist in my recovery. My father informed me that my Eldest Sister had died. The Tech-Priest replied that she had been tested by the Machine God, as well, and her own lack of Faith betrayed her. My Father seemed very displeased with the Tech-Priest, but, until The Luck is fully repaired, I’m not sure what punishments he could enact.

I’m writing this note, now, while the last of the numbness is fading from my legs. Everything that happened is such a haze, I wonder if the screams I heard were my Sister’s or my own.